Huge collection of Atari 8-bit software on BD-R

[Dragon375]

I have put together roughly 23GB of Atari 8-bit programs, books, and misc on BD-R. I have several complete collections (Holmes archive, and several other collections that used to be online but have vanished. It would take weeks just to go through all the stuff on this disk. I am offering copies, not trying to get rich off this, but do want to make a few bucks. I am pricing copies at $20 + postage. Any interest, just PM me and we can work a deal.

 

I have attached a file listing in compressed format.

 

Hmmm. "Error you arent permitted to upload this kind of file" It's a 7-zip file. What kind of file can I upload? NVM, a RAR archive worked.

 

Check out the file list and let me know if there is any interest.

 

 

A8files.rar

[w1k]

torrent?

[Mclaneinc]

He's looking to make cash..

 

Not got a BD-Rom either...

 

Whatever happened to people swapping collections for free?

 

Lastly, you best remove any emulators from the collection, authors tend to not be happy to have their stuff swapped with games or roms.

Edited November 13, 2013 by Mclaneinc

[TMR]

Lastly, you best remove any emulators from the collection, authors tend to not be happy to have their stuff swapped with games or roms.

He doesn't have permission to distribute any of my games either...

[Dragon375]

All good, PM me which games I should remove. I have other content to fill in with. It took me about 3 years to collect all this stuff, and I am not looking to go against anybody's rights. If I need to add/remove stuff, I will. Just let me know what needs to change. Also, I realize that it may go against people's wishes to sell this disk, but as I said it is 3 years of work. I wont get rich selling them, but it IS a ton of software fairly cheap.

Edited November 13, 2013 by Dragon375

[Mclaneinc]

He doesn't have permission to distribute any of my games either...

 

Oops....Yes indeed...

[ThumpNugget]

Hi.. I personally don't have an issue with you doing whatever (yes I know, what a relief! ) I would hope you have done some sort of value add in putting the content together.. Minimally say some sort of web interface for browsing/searching the content. I would also suggest that maybe a flash drive would be a better distribution media since most machines support those. Also do you have any issues with that first person you send the files to turning around and giving it away at cost or making a torrent?

Edited November 13, 2013 by ThumpNugget

[flashjazzcat]

He doesn't have permission to distribute any of my games either...

Nor any of my software...

[TXG/MNX]

I have put together roughly 23GB of Atari 8-bit programs, books, and misc on BD-R. I have several complete collections (Holmes archive, and several other collections that used to be online but have vanished. It would take weeks just to go through all the stuff on this disk. I am offering copies, not trying to get rich off this, but do want to make a few bucks. I am pricing copies at $20 + postage. Any interest, just PM me and we can work a deal.

 

I have attached a file listing in compressed format.

 

Hmmm. "Error you arent permitted to upload this kind of file" It's a 7-zip file. What kind of file can I upload? NVM, a RAR archive worked.

 

Check out the file list and let me know if there is any interest.

 

 

 

Dump it on FTP contact me PM I got enough space on my new FTP server... I am installing right now...

[snicklin]

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I suspect that TMR and Flashjazzcat would not mind you distributing their content if it was for free, considering they've released their software for free in the past.

 

Personally I don't think it's right to make money out of something that the authors themselves let out for free. If anyone deserves money in the process, it is them.

 

OK, you've offered to remove their items at their request, but how about all the other authors who aren't reading this at the moment?

 

If my PD software "Football Fantasies" (1996) is in there, from the Dean Garraghty collection, I would like it also removed. If however you wish to distribute it to others for free, feel free to do so.

[flashjazzcat]

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I suspect that TMR and Flashjazzcat would not mind you distributing their content if it was for free, considering they've released their software for free in the past.

 

 

Correct. And the fact it took three years to "collect" the software is immaterial to the matter at hand. Some of the software took five years to write... so shall I start charging for downloads?

[Dragon375]

Nope, wasn't trying to "offend" anyone with the offer. I'm pretty sure that none of the software that people are claiming ownership of is included (if by chance it is, I will remove it upon notice). As I stated before, most of the content is based on old sites that are no longer online. So, if somebody has developed programs more recent than about 20 years ago, chances are it isnt in this collection anyway. If it is, I will remove it. I really didnt expect this type of reaction from people who seem to be interested in keeping the old stuff alive. And why is the fact that it took 3 years to collect immaterial? Look at the file list I uploaded - if "your" software is included, I will remove it. I doubt that it is, I didnt go round just grabbing software from everywhere. And I definately did NOT grab from current sites that are currently developing. All this grief and I really dont think anyone has even looked at the file list yet.

[Dragon375]

I am going through the content right now. I had included a copy of the Altirra emulator, but am removing that and am checking for any software by those voicing concerns. I will remove anything I think applies and will upload a revised listing when complete. Also, I think I will switch the content format to a 32GB usb flashdisk instead of a BD-R. I should have enough content to fill it. I never expected the negativity I have read here. I know I didnt write the majority of this stuff (I did write a few of the programs in there, but none of them took me 5 years to write). I am just trying to distribute an archive of some hard to find software. I invested a considerable amount of time and effort into putting this together. I am 54 years old and have been working with the A8 for almost 40 years. I had an 800 when they cost over a thousand bucks. I was active with MACE back in the day (got a large amount of stuff when they faded as well), and thats where most of this stuff came from. I dont have much of the software that was recently developed, nor do I really care to. I was offering to share (at a modest price) what I had collected. When I have gone through all the stuff and packed a 32GB flash with it, I will up a new file listing. It will not include anything written by anybody on this board. However, 32GB flashes arent free. If my collecting work is immaterial, then I am re-thinking about offering it to those who think it is.

[ThumpNugget]

HI.. I did look though your list but I am not an expert on what is rare or not (if that has any meaning - anything available on the net really is not rare anymore). I did have a little nostalgia moment when I saw the Jellystone directories Have you checked your list against atarimania? If you have software that they do not have then that is important.. Many of the disks in the list you provided are labeled things like "game1, game2, game3, game4, etc.." so it is hard to know what is on them. If there are major gaps in atarimanias software it is in the PD and the rarer magazine type-ins..

Edited November 13, 2013 by ThumpNugget

[Mclaneinc]

Hold all horses, the issue people have is simple, you said you wanted to make money out of it, that's always going to ruffle feathers from the outset. If you had said I'll do it for the postage and cost of the media then I think you would have had a much different reaction.

 

Now that said I recently put a post in here about swapping digital collections and it was met with almost a stony silence, it seems even for free other might not want to swap stuff so there is an issue. Atari folk are obviously less willing to swap, there are those that will but its like head butting a brick wall 99% of time.

 

Me, I just collect stuff and hope to discover a rarity that I can put back out to the public depending on the owners reaction, I'd like to think that most would love to seen something they programmed back in the 80's back out there to enjoy rather than slap fancy blocks on it but that's their choice, I've always passed on my collection to people who are making public free archives, hell I even was lucky enough to get some previously unseen dumps of stuff off Factor 5.

 

There's part of me tempted by the offer simply so I can see if there's anything hidden in there that would be good to see on Atarimania or so but do yourself a favour and redo the list, wait for reaction and then given time for people to reject their items being included. The other part of me does not want to slap those people I know in here who work bloody hard on great NEW items.

 

I'm sure you understand that current or recent developers of software who have worked hard and normally for free don't want people to profit from them, I like you have collected over the years and I'm a similar age (52) but I'd swap for free, maybe if it was a pricey media I'd ask the cash for that and maybe posting, but that's just me.

 

I'll await your updated list to scan through, but please understand the reaction..

Edited November 13, 2013 by Mclaneinc

[dragos]

wow... so after a bd rom and postage he was making what? a few bucks? why shouldn't someone providing a service be compensated. If he wanted $100, i can see people being upset. but a few bucks? really?

[snicklin]

I consider myself a reasonable person, so I accept that you didn't want to cause any offence, fair enough, that's OK.

 

As mentioned, it was the mention of making money that upsets people. Even if the amount made is low, people don't like the idea of it being made off the back of their own work.

 

I think that people should share as much as possible where it doesn't go against the grain of the person who created the material. If you make a mistake by sharing something that shouldn't be, then ok, as long as you correct what you do, fair enough.

 

About 3 years ago, I got a book off the missus which was brand new and had a large section on Atari 8 bit graphics programming. At the same time, people were sharing torrents of 8-bit books and I could have scanned it in and asked someone to add it to the torrent. I will not do that though, because it's someone else's IP. That person may not even ready Atariage and so couldn't ask for it to be removed. While they still make money from the book, I'll not scan it in.

 

If you offered a service whereby people can exchange usb sticks for cost price, I'm sure nobody will complain. Yes, it's your time, I know, but as Flashjazzcat mentions, it took him 5 years to program something, if he could get $20 for 1 hours work on his programming creations, he'd be a rich man.

 

Please be aware, I don't hate you.... I'm reasonable.... everyone has different viewpoints.

[Goochman]

$20 for a BluRay disc shipped is about $4-$8 in profit if the burn doesnt fail. If a disc doesnt burn correctly then the profit will essentially be 0.

 

I think $20 for the effort is pretty reasonable - if you count gas to/from the PO then really he is not asking much.

 

A 32GB flash drive may run you about the same as a BR disc. It would be more reliable and with Black Friday coming up you can prob get a few for under $10 a piece.

 

Not sure others feelings but $5 to perform the service would seem to be ok since not everyone will torrent/ftp that much data and having someone who has organized it in 1 place would save alot of personal time doing the same. I consider an hour of my personal time worth more than $5, but your mileage may vary

[flashjazzcat]

Nope, wasn't trying to "offend" anyone with the offer. I'm pretty sure that none of the software that people are claiming ownership of is included (if by chance it is, I will remove it upon notice). As I stated before, most of the content is based on old sites that are no longer online. So, if somebody has developed programs more recent than about 20 years ago, chances are it isnt in this collection anyway. If it is, I will remove it. I really didnt expect this type of reaction from people who seem to be interested in keeping the old stuff alive. And why is the fact that it took 3 years to collect immaterial? Look at the file list I uploaded - if "your" software is included, I will remove it. I doubt that it is, I didnt go round just grabbing software from everywhere. And I definately did NOT grab from current sites that are currently developing. All this grief and I really dont think anyone has even looked at the file list yet.

Well, you're wrong on the last assertion because the first thing I did was check through the list before I made my first post. I found half a dozen copies of The Last Word, MrFish's LW font collection, several GUI demos, and various copies of my APT partition editor, FDISK. And I wouldn't claim ownership of any of that original software - I'm asserting it. However, I won't deny that some of this stuff could have originated from sources other than my website.

 

The three year thing is immaterial for the simple reason that it's an invalid counter-argument when offered to someone who is the original author of the content (which is the manner in which the three year factor was originally used). I could put a mandatory surcharge on downloads of original software on my website and then probably sit back and watch as no-one downloaded it. But that's my prerogative because it's my original content - my IP - and I can try and charge for it if I feel that way inclined, which I don't - despite the fact I spend most of my free time creating it and I pay annual hosting fees, maintain dev equipment, etc. That's what the "Donate" button's for.

 

Stephen J Carden emailed me at the weekend asking if he could include FDISK (when it's finished) on his RealDOS toolkit disk. I don't really have a problem with the idea (although I tend to prefer cross-linking to the originating download page because I fret about keeping every site administrator updated on current software revisions - but that's just me). Steve isn't going to make any money out of his toolkit disk, but he thought it courteous to ask anyway. I really appreciated that.

 

I can only echo snicklin's points above. I have nothing against the basic premise of making software widely available to everyone in a convenient way. If there was already a large group of people lobbying for software collections on Blu-Ray disks, and you stepped up and offered the service... well, that's helping the community, I guess. On the other hand, if you spent three years downloading and cataloguing stuff and then suddenly decided to burn everything onto disks and then flog them... well, there's a perceptible difference in intent there.

 

Anyway: it's how you go about things at the end of the day. I wouldn't write off understandable human reactions as "negativity". That said, not everyone asks first before hosting stuff. Such is life.

[AtariGeezer]

He doesn't have permission to distribute any of my games either...

Ditto, please remove:

 

Directory of k:\Atari8\pc-software

12/16/2012 03:36 AM 286,720 AtrTools.exe

12/16/2012 03:33 AM 126 AtrTools.ini

 

As this is my program and NOT For Another persons profit, except my own...

 

Thanks,

Jay

[atari8warez]

I have put together roughly 23GB of Atari 8-bit programs, books, and misc on BD-R. I have several complete collections (Holmes archive, and several other collections that used to be online but have vanished. It would take weeks just to go through all the stuff on this disk. I am offering copies, not trying to get rich off this, but do want to make a few bucks. I am pricing copies at $20 + postage. Any interest, just PM me and we can work a deal.

 

I have attached a file listing in compressed format.

 

Hmmm. "Error you arent permitted to upload this kind of file" It's a 7-zip file. What kind of file can I upload? NVM, a RAR archive worked.

 

Check out the file list and let me know if there is any interest.

 

 

 

Please remove all copies of Aspeqt (archives or every module belonging to the package in folders), and U1MBFlash.atr software from the BD. It is not a good idea to distribute software for profit without first reading the included copyright notices.

Named software can only be distributed for the price of the media and not for profit.

Edited November 14, 2013 by atari8warez

[TheNameOfTheGame]

Well, you're wrong on the last assertion because the first thing I did was check through the list before I made my first post. I found half a dozen copies of The Last Word, MrFish's LW font collection, several GUI demos, and various copies of my APT partition editor, FDISK. And I wouldn't claim ownership of any of that original software - I'm asserting it. However, I won't deny that some of this stuff could have originated from sources other than my website.

 

The three year thing is immaterial for the simple reason that it's an invalid counter-argument when offered to someone who is the original author of the content (which is the manner in which the three year factor was originally used). I could put a mandatory surcharge on downloads of original software on my website and then probably sit back and watch as no-one downloaded it. But that's my prerogative because it's my original content - my IP - and I can try and charge for it if I feel that way inclined, which I don't - despite the fact I spend most of my free time creating it and I pay annual hosting fees, maintain dev equipment, etc. That's what the "Donate" button's for.

 

Stephen J Carden emailed me at the weekend asking if he could include FDISK (when it's finished) on his RealDOS toolkit disk. I don't really have a problem with the idea (although I tend to prefer cross-linking to the originating download page because I fret about keeping every site administrator updated on current software revisions - but that's just me). Steve isn't going to make any money out of his toolkit disk, but he thought it courteous to ask anyway. I really appreciated that.

 

I can only echo snicklin's points above. I have nothing against the basic premise of making software widely available to everyone in a convenient way. If there was already a large group of people lobbying for software collections on Blu-Ray disks, and you stepped up and offered the service... well, that's helping the community, I guess. On the other hand, if you spent three years downloading and cataloguing stuff and then suddenly decided to burn everything onto disks and then flog them... well, there's a perceptible difference in intent there.

 

Anyway: it's how you go about things at the end of the day. I wouldn't write off understandable human reactions as "negativity". That said, not everyone asks first before hosting stuff. Such is life.

 

 

I hear ya! In fact because of this I just donated 20 quid Better than sending it to Dragon375 Hopefully will help u and the missus get a bit of a dinner out maybe. You are doing the hard work and I don't think Dragon375 should be profiting from your efforts.

[atari8warez]

wow... so after a bd rom and postage he was making what? a few bucks? why shouldn't someone providing a service be compensated. If he wanted $100, i can see people being upset. but a few bucks? really?

 

Yes really, many free software can be distributed for the price of the media but not for profit (doesn't matter how little it may be), that's why the copyright notices are there even for open source software.

[dragos]

sorry, if its freely downloadable from sourceforge, i dont see the problem. seriously, the gnu license has never been tested in a court of law and I am betting noone in the community has the resources to pursue anything anyway. That said, a multinational lawsuits is infinitely less likely.

 

If you want to respond, please include infallible logic that doesnt include the gnu license....

[atari8warez]

sorry, if its freely downloadable from sourceforge, i dont see the problem. seriously, the gnu license has never been tested in a court of law and I am betting noone in the community has the resources to pursue anything anyway. That said, a multinational lawsuits is infinitely less likely.

 

If you want to respond, please include infallible logic that doesnt include the gnu license....

 

Sure, here's the response with infallible logic, I will no longer update sourceforge (in fact remove it from there) and make the software closed-source and available on a whoever asks (selectively) for it basis, then you can argue all you want about the GNU licence. Have some basic respect to people's rights and don't assume it's all free for all.

Edited November 14, 2013 by atari8warez